Distance measuring apparatus

ABSTRACT

A distance measuring apparatus provided with a plurality of light-emitting units and a plurality of light-receiving units. The light emission period of each of the light-emitting units is changed over at each predetermined period interval. A plurality of light-receiving elements constituting each light-receiving unit are constructed so as to receive the reflected light from a plurality of distance measurement fields of view on an object to be photographed in a plurality of distance measurement zones obtained by dividing a range to be measured into several blocks. The input signal from each of the light-receiving elements in each of the distance measurement zones is changed over in synchronism with the light emission period of the light-emitting units and the output signals for the respective distance measurement zones are compared, whereby a distance data indicative of the distance measurement zone most approximate to the object distance is put out.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a distance measuring apparatus for detecting the distance data of an object to be photographed, and in particular to a so-called active type distance measuring apparatus which emits an object distance detecting light from the photographing apparatus side toward the object to be photographed. More particularly, the present invention relates to a distance measuring apparatus using a plurality of light-emitting means and a plurality of light-receiving means.

2. Description of the Prior Art

A number of so-called active type distance measuring apparatus which apply a distance detecting light from the photographing apparatus side toward an object to be photographed have been proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,435,744 and others. These active type distance measuring apparatuses of the prior art are often designed such that a small spot light obtained by stopping down a light beam is projected to keep the accuracy with which the reflected light from the object to be photographed is received. Where such a spot light is used, if a plurality of objects to be photographed exist in the field of view, the spot light is applied to the position intermediate the objects with a result that the distance of a distant object in the background is detected and the picture-taking lens cannot be moved and controlled to a proper focusing position.

Further, in the apparatuses of the prior art, correct distance measurement has sometimes not been accomplished depending on the contrast or the like of the brightness of the surface of the object to be photographed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is a first object of the present invention to provide an apparatus which has a plurality of light-emitting means and a plurality of light-receiving means and in which the range of distance to be measured from the close distance to the infinity position is divided into a plurality of distance measurement zones, whereby distance data indicative of the distance measurement zone corresponding to the object distance is detected.

It is a second object of the present invention to provide a distance measuring apparatus in which the light emission timing of the plurality of light-emitting means is time-divided and the light-receiving means are disposed so as to receive the reflected lights from a plurality of distance measurement fields of view on an object to be photographed in each of said distance measurement zones and further, a signal detecting circuit for successively changing over and controlling the output signals from the light receiving elements for the respective distance measurement zones in accordance with the timing of the time division of the light-emitting means is provided, whereby the distance data of the distance measurement zone most approximate to the object distance can be put out by said circuit.

It is a third object of the present invention to provide a circuit which enables an electric circuit achieving the second object to be efficiently constructed.

The invention will become fully apparent from the following detailed description thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates the arrangement relation of a plurality of light-receiving elements for receiving the pulse lights from a plurality of light-emitting means a₁, a₂ and a₃.

FIG. 2 diagramatically shows the circuit of the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows the major output waveforms of various components in the circuit diagram of FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

An embodiment of the present invention will hereinafter be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3.

FIG. 1 illustrates the light-emitting means according to the present invention and the relation between the light emission of the light emitting means and the light reception. In FIG. 1, reference characters a₁, a₂ and a₃ designate light-emitters such as light-emitting elements which emit pulse lights of a predetermined period on the basis of the signal of a light emission control circuit shown in block A in FIG. 2. Pl₁, Pl₂ and Pl₃ denote the light beams from the light-emitting elements a₁, a₂ and a₃, respectively, and L₁ designates a projecting lens disposed in front of the light-emitting elements a₁, a₂, a₃. α₁, α₂ and α₃ designate objects to be photographed lying on the photographing optical path. Pr₁, Pr₂, . . . denote the reflected light beams of the lights emitted from the light-emitting elements, reflected from the objects to be photographed. D₁, D₂, . . . , D₇ designate light-receiving elements such as light sensors having the photoelectric converting function. The light-receiving elements D₁, D₂, . . . , D₇ are rectilinearly arranged rearwardly of a light-receiving lens L₂ and receive the reflected lights from the light-emitting elements.

The light-emitting elements a₁ -a₃, the lenses L₁, L₂ and the light-receiving elements D₁ -D₇ are arranged, for example, in the following manner.

In the case of the object α₁ near the lenses L₁ and L₂, the light-receiving elements are disposed so that the reflected light Pr₁ by the pulse light Pl₁ of the first light-emitter a₁ is received chiefly by the fifth light-receiving elements D₅, the reflected light by the second light-emitter a₂ is received chiefly by the sixth light-receiving element D₆ and the reflected light by the third light-emitter a₃ is received chiefly by the seventh light-receiving element D₇.

In the case of the object α₂ slightly distant from the lenses L₁ and L₂, the light-receiving elements are disposed so that the reflected light Pr₂ by the first light-emitter a₁ is received chiefly by the fourth light-receiving element D₄, the reflected light by the second light-emitter a₂ is received chiefly by the fifth light-receiving element D₅ and the reflected light by the third light-emitter a₃ is received chiefly by the sixth light-receiving element D₆.

In the case of the object α₃ more distant from the lenses L₁ and L₂, the light-receiving elements are disposed so that the reflected light Pr₃ by the first light-emitter a₁ is received chiefly by the third light-receiving element D₃, the reflected light by the second light-emitter a₂ is received chiefly by the fourth light-receiving element D₄ and the reflected light by the third light-emitter a₃ is received chiefly by the fifth light-receiving element D₅.

In the case of the object α.sub.∞ at infinity, the light-receiving elements are disposed so that the reflected light Pr∞ by the first light-emitter a₁ is received chiefly by the first light-receiving element D₁, the reflected light by the second light-emitter a₂ is received chiefly by the second light-receiving element D₂ and the reflected light by the third light-emitter a₃ is received chiefly by the third lightreceiving element D₃.

Although not shown, in the case of the object α₄ nearer than the object α.sub.∞ at infinity and more distant than the distant object α₃, the light-receiving elements are disposed so that the reflected light by the first light-emitter a₁ is received chiefly by the second light-receiving element D₂, the reflected light by the second light-emitter a₂ is received chiefly by the third light-receiving element D₃ and the reflected light by the third light-emitter a₃ is received chiefly by the fourth light-receiving element D₄.

Accordingly, in the embodiment of FIG. 1, the distance zone of the objects α₁ -α.sub.∞ is discriminated by being divided into five stages.

FIG. 2 shows the construction of a light emission control circuit A for controlling the light emission of the light-emitting elements a₁ -a₃ of the light-emitting means described in connection with FIG. 1 and a detecting circuit receiving the output signals of the light-receiving elements as input and detecting a distance measurement zone corresponding to the object distance.

FIG. 3 shows the output waveforms of the components of the circuits of FIG. 2.

The light emission control circuit A is a drive circuit which puts out a pulse wave such as an output waveform PP₀ shown in FIG. 3. DM₁ designates a demultiplexer circuit which receives the pulse wave PP₀ as input and puts out the light emission pulses PP₁, PP₂ and PP₃ of the light-emitting elements a₁, a₂ and a₃, respectively, from the output terminals ○1 , ○2 and ○3 thereof. Pl₁, Pl₂ and Pl₃ denote the light beam pulses from the respective light-emitting elements.

In FIG. 2, a block B is a light-receiving means. The light-receiving means B comprises light-receiving elements D₁ -D₇ and amplifiers for amplifying the output signals of the light-receiving elements D₁ -D₇. A block C designates a signal detecting circuit which comprises five multiplexers MX₁ -MX₅ for dividing the distance measurement range into five distance measurement zones and receiving as input the output signals of the light-receiving elements receiving the reflected lights from the three distance measurement fields of view of the objects on the distance measurement zones, and detector means DA₁ -DA₅ each comprising a synchronous detector and a comparator given a desired threshold. FF₁ -FF₅ designate memory flip-flop circuits. PE₁ denotes an encoder having the priority function of receiving the signals of the flip-flops as input and putting out a distance data dd corresponding to a signal obtained by dividing into five stages the close distance to the telephoto distance in the range to be measured.

Operation of the circuit of FIG. 2 will now be described by assuming a case where the object whose distance is to be measured lies at the position α₁ indicated in FIG. 1. The pulse lights Pl₁ -Pl₃ from the light-emitting elements a₁ -a₃ are applied to and reflected by three distance measurement fields of view on the objects lying in the distance measurement zones α₁ -α.sub.∞ and are received by the elements D₁ -D₇ of the light-receiving element group B. The emitted lights Pl₁ -Pl₃ to the position α₁ are reflected from the three distance measurement fields of view P₁, P₂ and P₃ on the position α₁ and are received by the fifth light-receiving element D₅, the sixth light-receiving element D₆ and the seventh light-receiving element D₇, respectively, and the outputs of these light-receiving elements D₅, D₆ and D₇ are amplified by amplifiers A₅, A₆ and A₇, respectively.

The reflected light Pr₁ from the distance measurement field of view P₁ enters the light-receiving element D₅, and large output waveforms L, L, . . . are put out from this light-receiving element in synchronism with the period of light emission pulse PP₁ as is shown at D₅ in FIG. 3. The reflected light Pr₂ from the distance measurement field of view P₂ enters the light-receiving element D₆, and large waveforms L, L, . . . are put out from this element in synchronism with the period of light emission pulse PP₂ as is shown at D₆ in FIG. 3. Further, the reflected light Pr₃ from the distance measurement field of view P₃ enters the light-receiving element D₇, and waveforms L, L, . . . are put out from this element in synchronism with pulse PP₃ as is shown at D₇ in FIG. 3. The reflected light from each distance measurement field of view of the object lying at the position on α₂ enters the light-receiving elements D₄, D₅ and D.sub. 6 as previously described, but since the distance object is assumed to lie on α₂, small output waveforms S appear in the light-receiving elements D₄, D₅ and D₆ in synchronism with light emission pulses PP₁ -PP₃, respectively, as is shown at D₄, D₅ and D₆ in FIG. 3. If the output waveforms of the light-receiving elements which have received the reflected light from each distance measurement zone are shaped and only the effective output waveforms are shown as the signals from the position on α₁, they will be as shown at A₅, A₆ and A₇ in FIG. 3.

The output from the other amplifiers A₁ -A₄ are weak signals which do not reach a predetermined level value.

The five multiplexers MX₁ -MX₅ of the signal detecting circuit receive as inputs for each three distance measurement fields of view the signals from the light-receiving means which has received the reflected lights from each three distance measurement fields of view on five distance measurement zones. The input state when the output signals from the amplifiers A₁ -A₇ are applied as input to the multiplexers MX₁ -MX₅ is designed so as to be changed over into ○1 → ○2 → ○3 in synchronism with a change-over signal CS which changes over the light emission pulse PP₀ of the demultiplexer DM₁ into light emission pulses PP₁, PP₂ and PP₃ of the respective light-emitting elements. The detecting circuit group DA₁ -DA₅ receives as input the signals from the multiplexers MX₁ -MX₅ in synchronism with the reference pulse PP₀, compares the output signals from the multiplexers with a predetermined reference level signal and puts out a logic signal 1 when the input value is greater than the reference level signal, and puts out a logic signal 0 when the input value is lower than the reference level signal.

In the case of the present embodiment, the input of the detecting circuit DA₅ which has received as input the signal of the multiplexer MX₅ which in turn has received the signals from the light-receiving element means D₅ -D₇ and A₅ -A₇ which have received the reflected light from the distance measurement zone in which the object to be photographed exists is higher than the input levels of the other detecting circuits DA₁ -DA₄ and also greater than the reference level signal with which it is compared and therefore, a signal exhibiting a high output as a logic signal is put out from the detecting circuit DA₅ and no output signal is put out from the other detecting circuits DA₁ -DA₄.

FF₁ -FF₅ are memory flip-flops connected to the rear stages of the detecting circuits DA₁ -DA₅. When a high level detection signal dts is applied as input to the flip-flops FF₁ -FF₅, they are set and put out high level distance signals d₁ -d₅. The flip-flops FF₁ -FF₅ are reset by a reset signal puc put out from means, not shown.

PE₁ designates an encoder having the priority function. It is connected to the rear stage of the group of flip-flops FF₁ -FF₅ and receives as input any one of distance signals d₁ -d₅ corresponding to the zones of five distance stages and puts out a distance data dd corresponding to the distance signal. This distance data may be either digital or analog. For example, the distance signal d₁ corresponds to the most distant zone. In other words, in the case of the object θ.sub.∞ at infinity shown in FIG. 1, the distance signal d₁ is applied as input to the encoder PE₁ and an infinity distance data dd is put out from the encoder. The distance signal d₅ corresponds to the nearest zone and in this case, a distance data dd indicative of the shortest distanee is likewise put out from the encoder PE₁.

When the plurality of distance signals d₁ -d₅ are applied as input to the encoder PE₁, the priority function of the encoder works and the distance signals d₁ -d₅ indicative of the short distance are selected and a distance data dd corresponding to the distance signal is put out.

Where sensors having an accumulating effect and capable of selectively reading out such as MOS photosensors are utilized as the light-receiving elements D₁ -D₇, the multiplexers MX₁ -MX₅ in the embodiment may be constructed within the sensors and the firststage amplifiers A₁ -A₇ may be omitted.

As described above, the light-receiving elements D₁ -D₇ (including the first-stage amplifiers A₁ -A₇) are used in common to effect a plurality of measurements by a plurality of narrow-width pulse lights Pl and from the result thereof, distance measurement display or automatic focusing may be effected, whereby distance measurement hardly affected by the patterns or conditions of the objects θ₁ -θ.sub.∞ to be photographed becomes possible.

Moreover, there is a merit that the number of the light-receiving elements D₁ -D₇ on the light-receiving circuit side is only slightly increased and the circuit, particularly, the multiplexers MX₁ -MX₅ and subsequent demodulating portions can be used in common and thus, the circuit is not so bulky.

There is also a merit that the adjustment is substantially the same as that in the prior art because of the integration of the plurality of light-emitters a₁ -a₃ and the integration of the light-receiving elements D₁ -D₇. 

What is claim is:
 1. A distance measuring apparatus comprising:(a) a plurality of light-emitting means emitting light at a predetermined period interval, said light-emitting means projecting the light onto a plurality of distance measurement fields of view of an object to be photographed whose distance is to be measured; (b) light-receiving means comprising a plurality of light-receiving elements for receiving the reflected light from said object, said light-receiving elements receiving the reflected light from a plurality of distance measurement fields of view on said object in distance measurement zones obtained by dividing a distance measurement range into several blocks; (c) a signal detecting circuit having change-over means for receiving as input the output signals of said light-receiving elements having received the reflected light from said distance measurement field of view in each of said distance measurement zones and for time-divisionally changing over the output signal from each of said light-receiving elements in each of said distance measurement zones; (d) signal output means for receiving as input the signal of said signal detecting circuit for each of said distance measurement zones and putting out a signal from the distance measurement zone most approximate to the object distance; and (e) means for putting out a distance data, said means receiving as input the signal of said output means and putting out the distance data. 